Firm to oversee city transit operations

CHILLICOTHE – A transit management firm is expected to oversee the city’s transit facility for an unknown length of time in 2015 after the head of the department recently stepped down.

Melissa Givens served as city transit director since July 2013 but has accepted employment with a transit company in Columbus. She had been employed with the city of Chillicothe since the middle of 2012.

Mayor Jack Everson said Monday that the city intends to seek competitive bids from transit management companies after the departure of Givens, whose last day was Friday.

Everson could not say how long he expects the firm he plans to appoint will run city transit, but he said it is dependent on how long it takes to find an individual to fill the transit director vacancy.

Givens earned $46,854 in her position, and Everson said the city plans on taking that money and putting it into an outside contract line item so the consultant can be paid for its work.

The Ohio Department of Transportation also is expected to pick up a portion of the cost, Everson said.

Everson also said that, with the transit management company coming in, that will allow the city to “take a look to see how we can improve from an outside perspective.”